


There's something wrong with the village

by ToshiChan



Series: 'Cause I'm only looking for a little peace [2]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Angst, Aromantic, Asexual Character, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism Spectrum, Bisexual Character, Coming Out, Depression, Gay Character, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Protective Siblings, Sibling Bonding, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 13:17:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16450682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToshiChan/pseuds/ToshiChan
Summary: They're outliers, outcasts. All they have is each other.





	There's something wrong with the village

**Author's Note:**

> So here it is, my sexuality and gender headcannons for our favourite ducks! Please enjoy

 

“I think Tabitha is the cutest girl in class.” A loud voice interrupted Huey from his book. He looked up, automatically drawn to the noise. One of his fellow classmates, known as the class clown to many and an annoyance to Huey, was sitting on his desk. He was surrounded by pretty much all of the boys in the class who had been drawn in by the conversation topic.

It was recess, which meant Huey would have tracked down Dewey and Louie but it was raining heavily and they weren’t allowed to leave their classrooms. Huey had instead decided to immerse himself in a new book from the library and had proceeded to tune out the entire classroom until Gander Soop had decided to open his beak. He was never able to keep his voice down and ordinarily, Huey wouldn’t hold it against the boy. He himself had some volume control issues tied in with his autism and Dewey was the same as well. But Gander was interrupting his reading time, and he was choosing to do so with a topic that Huey cared little for.

“She’s so pretty and smart.” Gander sighed dramatically. “But not too smart, which is good. You want that in a girl. Not too smart, not too dumb.”

Huey rolled his eyes. They were twelve. Why was Gander acting like this?

It wasn’t like twelve was too young to work yourself out. On the contrary, Huey loved to know things about himself. And Louie of course had worked something out for himself at a very young age. But the way Gander talked about girls just didn’t sit right with Huey. Maybe it was because the comments were borderline misogynistic (Mrs Beakley had taught him that word the other week) or maybe it was because Huey had no interest in the matter.

He couldn’t really say.

Realising he’d become distracted from both his book and the group of boys all giggling away to each other, Huey tried to tune back in on the former. He’d managed to make it a few more pages in when a shadow fell over him. Looking up, Huey saw Gander standing there.

Not sure what to make of the situation, Huey stayed quiet.

“Huey.” Gander smiled like they were friends or something.

They weren’t. Gander made fun of his stimming and told him to shut up all the time. He goaded Huey into responses and then made him out to be the one at fault. But Huey wasn’t about to antagonise Gander. He was better than that.

“Gander.” Huey said neutrally. His eyes wandered back to his book of their own accord.

Gander snapped his feathers impatiently. “Eyes up here.”

Huey obliged, a little put off by the treatment.

“What do you want?” He asked as politely as he could.

“Just wandering what you think.” Gander snickered.

“About what?”

“Who the cutest girl in class is.”

Huey paused.

He didn’t know how to respond. No one ever asked him these sorts of questions and he liked it that way. It meant he didn’t have to come up with an answer that would satisfy them.

“Do I have to have one?” He said carefully.

“We’re twelve.” Coming from Gander, the sentence had a whole other meaning behind it.

“There’s no rush.” Huey shrugged. He didn’t like where this was going but trying to ignore Gander always led to trouble. Huey hated the age old ‘ignore them and it will stop’ method because it never ever worked. Bullies would always just keep pushing.

“Come on, pick one.” One of the other boys piped up.

“I don’t have anyone to pick.” Huey retorted. He could feel his feathers trembling. He fought the urge to flap them as hard as he could.

“But you have to. We’re boys.” Gander complained.

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Yes it does.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Pick one.” Gander said. It soon became a chant that the other boys picked up. “Pick one, pick one, pick one, pick one.”

“No…” Huey said but it was drowned out. He looked around frantically but everyone was ignoring their little corner of the room.

“Pick one, pick one, pick one, pick one.”

“Stop it.”

“Pick one, pick one, pick one, pick one!”

“NO!”

Huey was on his feet (when had he stood up) feathers clenched into fists. The boys had taken a few startled steps back and were watching him uncertainly. When he didn’t do anything beyond the yell, they relaxed.

“Freak.” One of them jeered.

Huey winced. He hadn’t wanted to lose his temper and they knew that. They’d been goading him because they wanted an excuse to call him names. The worst thing was that sometimes, they didn’t even wait for one. They just went ahead and did it.

“He’s broken.” Gander said dismissively. “What kind of person isn’t interested in girls?”

_ Louie… _

But Huey couldn’t say anything. He just stood there and let the words hit him. He couldn’t retaliate anymore. It would only end with him in trouble and them as the victims, poor children left at the mercy of the autistic freak.

“Come on guys, let’s go. I don’t wanna catch whatever he has.” Gander jeered. He led his group away.

Huey should have been relieved but he wasn’t.

He was just empty.

* * *

“Am I broken?” He asked later that night when they were in their bedroom at Uncle Scrooge’s manor, getting ready to sleep. Dewey and Louie were already in their pyjamas but Huey had been stuck standing over his for too long. He just kept replying Gander’s words to him.

“Course not.” Dewey said easily.

“Broken how?” Louie asked.

“Something happened today.” Huey begun. It was always the same old story. Something happened and left him like this, unable to function.

“Who hurt you?” Dewey’s eyes narrowed.

“No on.” Huey muttered.

“Bullshit.” Dewey spat.

“Don’t swear.” Louie said absently. It was more of an automatic reaction these days, since they hung out with Uncle Scrooge and he was always swearing in that colourfully creative way of his.

“Why hurt you?” Dewey asked again.

“It was just Gander.” Huey rubbed his arms.

“I knew it.” Dewey hated Gander. They all did. But Dewey probably hated him the most, even more than Huey. Gander had been in Dewey’s class one year and had made his life a living misery and now he was doing it to Dewey’s brothers.

“What did he do?” Louie asked. He’d been lying on his bed but now he sat up, staring at Huey with worry in his eyes.

“He and his friends were talking about who they thought were the cutest girls in the class. They wanted to know what I thought but I didn’t have an answer. I told him I wasn’t interested in anyone but he said I had to have a crush on a girl, because we’re boys and that’s what we do.”

“Yeah, right.” Louie mumbled.

“So, then he kept telling me to pick one so I yelled at him that I wouldn’t. And he called me broken.” Huey looked at his webbed feet.

“Broken because…” Dewey said hesitantly which wasn’t like him at all.

“Because I didn’t like anyone.” Huey whispered.

“Jerk.” Louie lay back down.

“Don’t listen to him.” Dewey too, turned away.

“But he’s right!” Huey exploded. “I don’t like anyone! Not in the way he thinks I should. I think it’s gross to want to kiss people and be all romantic with them. And…you know, doing more than that. It’s all gross. Being like that with people doesn’t appeal to me at all. Not girls, not boys, not anyone else. I couldn’t think of anything less appealing. I hate it! I hate it so much! So I am broken! And worst of all, I don’t know why.”

He sunk to his knees, crying.

Dewey and Louie hovered in the background, unsure of what to do. Sometimes, when Huey was having a breakdown, he wanted nothing more than to have comforting arms around him. And other times, any sort of human contact had him feeling so much worse that it was all he could do to keep his brothers and uncles away.

Today, it was definitely the former.

Huey crawled over and let his brothers wrap him into a hug. They fell back onto Louie’s bed. Nobody said anything. Dewey and Louie just let Huey cry it all out. It was only when the tears stopped that they spoke.

“You’re not broken.” Dewey reassured him. “There’s nothing wrong with feeling that way. There isn’t a right or wrong way for romance. It’s all just up to you.”

“Very restrained.” Louie teased his excitable brother.

“Shut up, I can be restrained when I want to.” Dewey wiggled around and reached over Huey to pinch Louie.

“Guys, not now.” Huey said tiredly and the arm retreated.

“Seriously though,” Louie rolled over so he was lying on his side. “It’s a real thing. It’s called being asexual and aromantic. You can be one, or both. It’s as real as being gay or bisexual. It doesn’t mean you’re broken. It’s just a new label. You love labels.”

“True.” Huey sniffed.

“Gander doesn’t know shit about anything.” Dewey chimed in. “So he definitely doesn’t know about it. But it’s super real.”

“Really?”

“Promise.” Louie crossed his heart with the tip of his index feather.

“So I’m not broken? It’s not a side effect of being autistic?”

Louie hummed thoughtfully. “I mean, some people think it is. But honestly, that’s a load of crap. There’s not really any correlation between the two. I think autistic people might have a tendency to it more but there’s no proof behind that. Anybody who says it is, is stupid and dumb and only wants to be mean.”

“Yeah?” Huey rolled the two words around in his head.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s google the definitions.” Dewey whipped out his mobile phone. It had been a gift from Uncle Scrooge who was tired of them getting separated on adventures and decided they needed a way to stay in contact. Of course, since this was Uncle Scrooge they were talking about, it was a second hand one.

Huey let Dewey tap asexual and aromantic into google and then held out his hand for the phone. Dewey and Louie waited patiently (not so patiently in Dewey’s case but he was trying) while Huey read as much information as he could and more.

Finally, Huey set the phone down and smiled.

“I think that’s me.” He said. He felt something his chest release, a weight he hadn’t even been aware of until he’d spoken those words.

“Awesome!” Dewey cheered.

“Cool.” Louie smirked.

“Not broken.” Huey whispered to himself.

“Definitely not.” Dewey and Louie said together.

They eventually all split off into their own bunks to sleep. Huey lay awake for a long time, smiling to himself. He had more words for himself, more reasons for why he was the way he was. Sure, there would probably be a lot of people who would never understand it. Much like his autism, there would be future hardships to overcome. But Huey knew that as long as he knew who he was, everything would be fine.

He had his words, and his brothers.

And that was enough.

 

* * *

 

For Dewey, making decisions was hard. It was part of his ADHD. He had a hard time choosing between things. That was why he was where he currently was, humming and harring over two different flavours of ice-cream. Uncle Scrooge would only let them get one flavour and whilst Huey, Louie and Webby had already chosen what flavours they wanted (strawberry for Huey, salted caramel for Louie and fairy floss for Webby) Dewey was still stuck. Peanut butter with chocolate chips looked really good but so did bubblegum with gummy bears. 

“Just pick one, laddie.” Scrooge grumbled.

“It’s hard.” Dewey whined. “Don’t rush me.”

“Pick one or pick none.” Scrooge quipped. 

“It’s alright.” A calm voice laughed. “I don’t mind. It’s not busy, after all.” Dewey looked up from the two flavours to see their server waiting patiently. He was wearing the ice-cream parlour uniform and a headband to hold his floppy feathers back. Dewey felt a blush rising on his cheeks.

The guy was cute.

“Uh…” Now Dewey was well and truly unable to choose. He was at a complete loss for words. The ice-cream guy was cute and Dewey had no idea what to do with this information.

“How about you can have both for the same price. Special treat.” The guy winked. Dewey could have died right then and there. 

“I suppose.” Scrooge grumbled. He wasn’t losing any money though, so there was no real reason for him to disagree. He set the money down on the counter, and waited for the guy to serve up the ice cream. He handed it over to Dewey with another wink. Dewey stumbled away to where Huey, Louie and Webby were sitting.

“Finally.” Webby let out a dramatic sigh. “Oo, you got two flavours.”

“The server gave it to me for the same price as one flavour.” Dewey said blankly. 

“That was nice of him.” Huey dug a spoon into his ice cream.

“I think he just wanted to get rid of us.” Dewey protested. Ouch. Why did saying that hurt so much?

“Don’t sell yourself short.” Webby teased. “Maybe he was flirting with you.”

“He’s like, three years older than me.” Dewey could feel the blush rising again. “I’m thirteen, I’m practically a baby.”

“He’s blushing.” Huey crowed.

“He’s cute, alright.” Dewey snapped defensively. “At least, I think he is. Is he cute, Louie?”

Louie looked up, startled from whatever train of thought he’d been riding on. He looked pretty annoyed. 

“So just because I’m gay, I’m meant to know whether guys are cute or not?” He huffed.

“Yes.” Dewey blinked as innocently as he could.

“Ugh,” Louie pulled a face but glanced over the ice cream guy. “Guess he’s alright.”

A few minutes of silence passed as they ate their food before it could melt. Uncle Scrooge had stepped outside to take a phone call but they could see him glance through the window at them every few seconds. 

“Are you gay as well?” Webby asked Dewey after she’d finished her cone.

“No.” Dewey said quickly. “I like girls. I just think he looks cool, that’s all.”

“You called him cute before.” Huey pointed out, ever the stickler for details. 

“Whatever. You can think someone is cute and not have any interest in him. Like a puppy or something.” Dewey brushed his oldest brother off as best he could. “A puppy...hmm...ew, imagine having a Beagle Boy as a pet.”

“Gross.” Webby laughed. “I bet you’d have to toilet train them.”

Conversation successfully derailed, Dewey enjoyed the rest of his ice cream and tried not to think about how cute the ice cream guy was and how maybe he was just a little interested in him.  

But only a little.

* * *

_ why are boys cute _

_ Boys r cute what does this mean _

_ im not gay but boys r cute _

_ i like girls _

_ i like boys _

_ i like girls and boys _

_ What is bisexuality _

Dewey threw his phone aside. He’d spent the past week unable to get his mind of the cute ice cream guy. He’d kept this information a secret from Huey, Louie and Webby as best as he could, unsure about how they’d react. Yes, Huey was aro/ace and Louie was gay but for some reason, he was still worried. What if they thought he was just doing this for attention. People always thought he was doing things for attention. Unsettled and unable to calm down, Dewey had turned to the internet. After a few frantic google searches, he’d found out about a thing called bisexuality. 

It seemed to fit. Dewey was bad at making decisions but this didn’t feel like a decisions. It felt like...like something right.

But still wrong…

Because Dewey couldn’t choose between boys and girls. So what did that make him? Greedy? Disgusting?

“Urgh…” Dewey rolled onto his back and kicked his legs angirly. Everything was always so hard for him.

“What’s up?” The door opened and Webby wandered in.

“Ever heard of knocking?” Dewey grumbled. Webby was sort of bad with personal space. She’d had the manor to herself for so long that she still wasn’t used to having other people around who might want to be left alone. 

“I heard you groan from the air vents.”

“And you came down and entered through the door?”

“It felt more polite.”

“No.” 

“Eh.” Webby wandered closer and flopped down next to Dewey. “I figure when people are upset, rules are off the table.”

“But that’s a rule in and of itself.” Dewey pointed out.

“Is Huey rubbing off on you?” Webby said accusingly. 

“We’re triplets, we’re constantly rubbing off on each other.” Dewey sighed. “Not in a gross way. In a sweet, sibling way.”

“You’re sounding weird.” Webby poked Dewey’s cheek. 

“I feel weird.” He confessed. 

“Aw, what’s up bud?”

“Uh…” Dewey hummed. Telling Webby first would be...easier, right? She wasn’t one of his brothers and he hadn’t known her as long so there was less history there to get stressed over.

“Speak to meeeeeeeeee.” Webby rolled onto Dewey and lay there. 

“You know the other day, at the ice cream place.” He begun, anxiously playing with his fidget cube. 

“Oo yeah, with the cute guy. I remember.” Webby giggled.

“And I said I wasn’t gay. And I’m not. But...I think I might be bisexual. Do you know what that is?”

“...”

“Webby?” 

“...”

“Did I break you? Are you secretly biphobic but not homophobic or transphobic? Because that’s a thing. I read about it.”

“”O. M. G.” Webby squealed. “You’re bi!? Omg, we really are besties. Bi buds, bi buds, bi buds!”

“Huh?”

“I’m bi too!” Webby exclaimed. “Cause guys are cool, but girls are so pretty as well. Like, super pretty.”

“Tell me about it.” Dewey sighed. Then it sunk in. “So you’re bi too?”

“Yeah!”

“So it’s not a bad thing?”

“Of course not.” Webby rolled off of Dewey and sat up so she could face him. “Just like there’s nothing wrong with being ace or gay or trans or anything else. Except a bigot. There’s something wrong with that.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Are you gonna tell you brothers?” Webby asked. She looked a little unsure about the question but she asked it anyway, because she was Webby and Webby wasn’t afraid to ask things.

“I want to.” Dewey admitted. “But I don’t know how. I’m bad at doing things.”

“I feel that.” Webby sighed. “But I mean, you guys tell each other anything. So you should. I think. Probably.”

“Yeah.” Dewey sat up. “I’ll go do it.”

“Do what?” The door opened and Huey and Louie wandered in. The former had spoken and he looked a little worried. 

“What’s up guys?” Dewey tried to act casual. 

“We were just looking for you.” Huey sat down across from Dewey and Webby. Louie stayed standing, leaning against the wall. “We were gonna play extreme hide and seek at three and it’s four. Did you forget?”

“Definitely.” Dewey confirmed. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Louie spoke. “We know it’s hard for you to remember stuff.”

“Yeah, it was that.” Dewey rapidly pressed the buttons of his cube. “But I was distracted by something else. I...uh...I think maybe sorta I’m kind of bisexual!?”

Silence.

“Cool.” Louie remarked. “Welcome to the club.”

“Awesome!” Huey rushed in for a hug. “I’m so glad you told us!”

“So...it’s not a bad thing?” Dewey said into Huey’s feathers.

“Of course not.” Huey pulled away to stare at Dewey. “Why would you think that?”

“There’s a lot of hate online. Maybe some of it’s true?” Dewey stressed. 

“Wrong.” Louie wandered over and sat down with the others. “None of it’s true. It’s stupid, just like the people who think being gay or trans or ace is stupid. They’re idiots. We’ve been over this.” 

“I’m still allowed to be worried.” Dewey defended himself.

“I was worried.” Webby piped up. When Huey and Louie looked over at her, she gave a little wave. “Hi there, I’m bi too.”

“Awesome!”

“Cool.”

“Thanks guys!”

Dewey rolled over and groaned into the carpet.

“What’s wrong?” Huey asked. “Is this really upsetting you?”

“Yeah.” Dewey mumbled. “It is. I know it’s dumb but I just don’t know about this. It feels right but it feels wrong at the same time.”

“It’s not dumb.” Huey said reassuringly. “I went through this. Louie went through this. I’m sure Webby went through it as well.”

“Yup!”

“It’s totally natural to be worried about this. It’s a big thing to come to terms with. And people get a lot of hate for it. So it’s scary.” 

“Totally.” Dewey said miserably. 

“But it’s nothing to be ashamed of.” Huey said gently. “It’s just another part of who you are.”

“A really cool part.” Webby chipped in.

“An important part.” Louie finished. 

“Being bi is just another part of Dewey, the best middle brother ever.” Huey grinned.

“People are going to say bad things. They always do. So you don’t have to tell them until you want to. But they’re always going to be wrong.” Louie said seriously. 

“I think I’m gonna cry.” Dewey said. He was only half joking. The tears were building up, a weird mix of happiness and sadness.

“It’s okay to. Let it out.” Huey wrapped Dewey up into another hug and this time, Louie and Webby joined in. They sat there and let Dewey cry it all out for a bit. 

“Why are we always crying?” Dewey wiped his eyes after a few minutes. 

“Because life is hard and we keep getting the short end of the stick.” Louie said bleakly. 

“Because crying is a healthy response to emotional stimuli.” Huey answered. 

“Because why not?” Webby suggested. 

“I want to be done with crying.” Dewey clenched his fists. “I want to be happy all the time, and do things that make me happy, and be with people who make me happy and I make them happy.”

“Being yourself is true happiness. You can’t deny it.” Huey pointed out.

“I’m not saying I’m denying it.” Dewey grumbled. “I want to admit it. Being bi sounds right. When I read about it, it felt like...like...like coming home. It felt good. But then I started reading about all the bad things that come with it. And I hated it.”

“But that’s not on you. That’s on other people and they’re stupid. We’ve said this a hundred times.” Louie shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket. 

“Yeah but my brain doesn’t like remembering things. Or thinking logically if it doesn’t want to do it.”

“We’ll just have to keep reminding you then.” Webby said softly.

“Yeah?” Dewey asked hopefully.

“For as long as you need.” Huey confirmed.

“Welcome to the club.” Louie leant his head on Dewey’s shoulder.

Dewey had to laugh. 

Yeah.

This was home.

 

* * *

 

“It’s totally an attention thing.”

Normally, Louie wouldn’t have looked up at such a statement, believing it wasn’t about him. But he’d been really jumpy lately, so he did look up and he saw two of his year two classmates looking over at him. He tried to smile but it was weak and fell apart quickly. He knew what they were talking about and he hated it. 

“She doesn’t want to be left out, that’s it. She doesn’t really want to be a boy.” The other one agreed with the first one.

Louie hunched over, shrinking into his trademark green hoodie that hid everything about him. He was only seven years old but he already felt so old and tired. Things were so hard for him, and he didn’t think they’d ever be easier. Being a boy was everything he’d ever wanted but there were people out there who refused to let him have it. 

“Freak.” One of them whispered.

“She’ll grow out of it. Mum says it’s just a phase.”

Louie turned away. He couldn’t wait for home time.

* * *

“Did you hear the teacher today? She called Louie, Llewellyn. Isn’t that a girls name?”

It was a boy’s name actually. It was originally Llwellanne but Louie had had it changed to the masculine version. He hated having it but his mum had named him Llwellanne. He wanted to keep some sort of semblance of the name she had given him. But no matter what he told anyone, they laughed it off. So he stuck with Louie and told all the teachers he wanted to go by Louie. Most of the teachers did but when they got a relief teacher, they would inevitably call Louie by Llewellyn and everyone would suddenly remember that they didn’t have to call Louie ‘he’ because they were jerks.

“Ignore them.” Dewey dropped into the seat beside him. He and Louie were in the same class this year and when he wasn’t busy being bullied by some jerk named Gander, he was sticking up for Louie.

“Kind of hard to when it’s everyone.” Louie mumbled. “Everyone, all the time.”

“I’ll kick their butts.” Dewey stood up again.

Louie pulled him down. “Don’t. You’ll get in trouble and then Uncle Donald will have to leave work and he’ll be sad.”

“But you’re sad.”

“I’ll get over it.” Louie rested his head on his desk. 

He wouldn’t. Not really. But little white lies never hurt anyone.

* * *

“He keeps staring at me. It’s weird. I think he’s a faggot as well as a-”

“Shut up!” Louie yelled. “Shut up! Just, shut up!” He sunk to his knees on the damp floor of the locker room. “Stop it! Leave me alone. Leave me alone!”

“He’s lost the plot. Told you it would happen eventually. It so runs in the family. You know his brothers, right? They’re both freaks as well.” 

Louie started to cry. He cried and cried and cried. He only stopped crying on the way home, pretending to be fine to not worry Huey and Dewey, and then he locked them in their bedroom and took a knife from the kitchen drawer. 

“Louie, let us out! Don’t do this. Let us out!” Huey screamed.

“Uncle Donald!” Dewey cried. “Uncle Donald, where are you?! Help us!”

Louie held the knife but he didn’t use it and sometimes, he really regretted it.

* * *

“I don’t like this.” Louie stood in the middle of their new bedroom. He was clutching a small bag to his chest that held all his possessions. He set it down after a moment but didn’t move from his spot near the door.

“I thought you were excited to be living with Uncle Scrooge. Getting in the will, calling dibs on the best stuff.” Huey was already climbing up the ladder to the top bunk, honouring the unspoken agreement that they always went in age order. 

“Sure, that’s cool.” Louie agreed. “I love it. But...there’s, you know…” He gestured to himself anxiously. 

“Ah.” The confusion in Huey’s eyes cleared. “You’re worried Uncle Scrooge is going to be a jerk about things.”

“He’s like, super old. Super old guys are always homophobic and transphobic and they’re never ever open to change.” Louie fretted. 

“But Uncle Scrooge is cool.” Dewey said absently. He was shifting through his bag. He’d been acting a little odd since their Atlantis adventure but Huey and Louie were hoping he’d sort through it on his own, since he’d been reluctant to talk about it.

“Sure, he’s cool. But we don’t know anything about his stance on things.” Louie hissed. “We just know he likes money and adventures. That’s literally it!”

“And he probably keeps lots of secrets.” Dewey said moodily.

“People keep secrets for good reasons.” Louie rubbed at his hoodie nervously. 

“Okay.” Dewey brightened suddenly. “Sure they do. We all do.”

“I just don’t wanna settle in, in case he kicks us out when he finds out.” Louie explained.

“When?” Huey peered over the edge of the bed. “Don’t you mean if? If he finds out?”

“I have to tell him.” Louie shrugged. “I’m gonna make sure that Uncle Donald never has to waste money on my medication again. I want Uncle Scrooge to pay for the important stuff like that..”

“Uncle Donald says that he’s never wasted money on us, ever.” Huey said firmly. 

“But he has.” Louie snapped. “He can call it whatever he wants to, but he has. All he does is spend money on us and never on himself. He works so many jobs that he hates but we’re still so poor because it costs a lot of money to raise us. Uncle Scrooge owes us, big time. He should pay for our medication and therapy and all that stuff.”

“He’s so stingy with money, he’d never say yes.” Dewey snorted. “You’re dreaming big time here, Louie.”

“He owes us.” Louie repeated. “And I’m going to collect.”

“Good luck.” Huey said genuinely. 

“It’s a nice thought.” Dewey said, a little patronizingly. 

“Whatever.” Louie left the room in search of his uncle.

* * *

“Okay.”

“Huh?” Louie’s beak fell open.

“Are ye deaf laddie, I said okay.” Scrooge said gruffly. “Do I need to pay for a hearing exam as well?”

“No, no, of course not.” Louie stammered. “I’m just...shocked. That was so easy. I thought you might not be, like, a big fan of the community.”

Uncle Scrooge actually looked hurt. “Don’t sell me short, Louie. I would never discriminate people just for simply loving or simply being.”

“Deep.” Louie muttered under his breath. 

“And my ears happen to be fine.” The old duck said sharply, if not a little fondly. “Don’t sell me short, Louie, but don’t sell yourself short either. Being trans and gay aren’t bad things. Yer a fine nephew.” 

Louie tried to ignore the tears that were building up. Scrooge had called Louie his nephew. 

“I’ll pay for all yer boy’s medication and therapy. Stuff like that. Donald can focus on fixing up the houseboat.”

“Huey and Dewey said you wouldn’t.” Louie said, suddenly desperate to spend time with his uncle. “They said you were too stingy to do such a thing.”

Again, Scrooge looked hurt at the words. But he managed to cover it up well enough that Louie was sure he only noticed because he was looking for it.

“So why did you ask me anyway?” Scrooge said curiously.

Louie shrugged. “Worth a try.”

The truth was, Louie had been terrified to explain to Uncle Scrooge about how he was actually registered as the youngest sister to two brothers at birth. He was scared to his very core to confess that people thought he had betrayed the memory of his mother by turning around and telling them that he was Louie, a boy. He was horrified that Uncle Scrooge would take one look at his gay, trans nephew and throw him out of the house, but keep Huey and Dewey because at least they were real boys.

But he had tried anyway, because Louie wanted his brothers to have security, and he wanted his favourite Uncle to have it as well.

“It was brave of you, laddie.” Uncle Scrooge said softly and for a moment, Louie saw the fear he felt so often reflected in Scrooge’s eyes.

It kept him up all night, long after Huey and Dewey had fallen asleep.

* * *

“Does Webby know?” Dewey asked one day. The triplets were lounging by the pool on a lazy summer afternoon. They’d been adventuring every day of the week up until now and Uncle Scrooge and Uncle Donald had declared it was time for a break.

Dewey and Huey had discarded their shirts and were getting ready to jump in the water but Louie was reluctant to. It was boiling hot but he still kept his hoodie in place, his final line of defense against the world.

“No.” He said sharply in response to Dewey. “Does she have to?”

Dewey shrugged. “You told Uncle Scrooge.”

“For my own benefit.” Louie pointed out.

_ For yours, actually. You and Huey and Uncle Donald... _

“Not everything has to be about the benefits.” Huey dipped his feet into the water. “You could tell Webby simply so she can understand certain things about you. Like why you don’t like your birth name. She was pestering you about it on Wednesday.”

“Yeah.” Louie shuddered. It had been a horrible adventure. Huey had gotten lost from the group, Uncle Donald had nearly been sacrificed to a fire god and Webby would not stop wondering about the triplet’s real names.

“Wednesday was fun.” Dewey balanced on the edge of the pool. “The fire god thing was great!”

Louie opened his mouth to disagree but Dewey jumped into the pool, disappearing with a large splash. 

“Just think about it, alright.” Huey said supportively. “At the end of the day, it’s up to you. It’s always up to you. But I think it would help. Understand things is important.”

“I know.” Louie sighed. “Telling people is just, really scary. Because you know they love you, but do they love you unconditionally? There’s always that fear there that things might change, just because you’re a little different.”

“I know.” Huey echoed.

They sat there for a bit while Dewey swam laps and challenged himself to hold his breath.

“Do you ever wonder what mum would think, if she hadn’t shot herself into space?” Louie asked finally. 

Huey looked at him in shock. “I...no. Not really.”

“Why?”

“Cause if I start, I’ll never stop.” Huey looked into the rippling water.

“Tell me about it.” Louie exhaled. “It’s all I can do sometimes. Think about it. I have these nightmares where she hates me, where she yells at me for killing her only daughter.”

“I don’t think she’d do that.” Huey said calmly.

“But we can’t know for sure. I don’t think we ever will.” Louie felt sweat drip down his back. 

“She might still be out there.” Huey gazed up at the sky.

“Maybe.” Louie said noncommittally. “I don’t really think mum would hate me. But I can’t be sure. So there’s always that fear there. It won’t ever go away.”

“I’m sure it will, one day.” Huey took Louie’s hand. “Because there’s nothing wrong with you. There’s nothing wrong with any of us. Okay?”

“Sure.” Louie glanced at Huey, then at the pool. A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. Huey, well versed at reading his siblings, spotted it immediately.

“Louie, don’t.” He begged but it was too late. Louie had shoved Huey into the pool.

He watched the eldest triplet surface with an angry cry and start splashing water at the youngest. Dewey joined in eagerly. Louie sat back and laughed and let his fears melt in the sun.

From a window in the house, Scrooge and Donald watched with fond smiles.

“You did good.” Scrooge told Donald.

“We all did.”

The sun set that evening and the full moon rose, watching over the Duck family in a way they could never even begin to imagine. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is a follow up to my other fic which had headcannons about the boy's and being neurodivergent. People were interested in my gender/sexuality headcannons so here they are. I worked really hard to sort of outline the difficulties with coming to terms with yourself in the form of these small drabbles. I am gay and whilst most of the people I know have been nothing but supportive, there's always difficulties. Looking at you, homophobic aunty beth. I hope this is a respectful and accurate fic. 
> 
> As always, please leave kudos and comments. This fic exists because of the support on my last fic and I couldn't be more thankful for it! xx


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